Blood Bond
by Siknmagh
Summary: A bond, given by ritual during birth. Not really a bloodline limit, but alike. ch5 up
1. Chapter 1

I'll let y'all enjoy another of my strokes of stupidity:

**Blood Bond**

1

The Kazama clan. They had no known Bloodline Limit. Neither had they any known specialties. Their successes and failures were nothing very noteworthy. The clan certainly wasn't small: with over 60 couples, most having offspring, they were Konoha's 6th clan in size, from whom over 40 pct became shinobi of the Leaf. The rest of the clan was more of the civilian support group: they were weapon smiths, farmers, construction workers/specialists and over 10 pct became or had training in the medical field, outside of the shinobi way of things. This made them pretty much self-supplying, almost being a village inside of the village.

Their shinobi clan members didn't really stand out on the battlefield, besides their golden yellow hair, which most Kazama were distinguished by. They weren't overly powerful. One might even say, in terms of chakra capacity, they were rather weak. They could stand their own, but they didn't stand out in terms of performance.

However two things that are easily overlooked make the Kazama clan somewhat suspicious:

1: despite their low chakra reserves, they could last quite long in combat, which would indicate superb chakra control.

2: in the history of the clan, there hasn't been any Kazama that was ever captured.

A Kazama could do only 3 things:

1: safely return to Konoha

2: die on the battlefield

3: become a missing-nin

The last thing never happened since all came back, or their dead bodies were identified by fellow clan members. Somehow, capture wasn't known in the dictionary of the clan.

0-0-0

The clan usually was withdrawn from the rest of the village, their academy records above-average, but nothing special (or so the records say) and they liked their peace and quiet. They also didn't like meddling in the affairs of Konoha: they deemed a representative for the Konoha Council unnecessary. They would deliver their share of shinobi and supplies if really necessary, but that was about it. This peaceful way of doing things came to an end when young Kazama Arashi enrolled in the shinobi Academy. He was the prodigy of the Kazama clan: a sharp mind strategically as well as creatively and a hard worker. There were also a few minor drawbacks... Arashi could be rather... Loud. ...and energetic ...and a prankster. With his creative mind, he thought up the most original ways to prank as many people as he possibly could. Combined with his exceptional chakra control, which became evident at the age of 6, he topped his academy classes without breaking a sweat. He graduated that year, becoming a genin. Doing his missions under the guidance of one of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha; one of the three Sannin, Jiraiya, he began exploring his chakra control and came up with some original techniques. When Arashi became chuunin with his entire team, he was put under the private tutelage of Jiraiya, working out his techniques. Jiraiya was impressed to say the least by the Rasengan. In the Jounin exam that Arashi entered when he was 14, he introduced the mastered technique that gained him his nickname 'Konoha's Yellow Flash': shinsen no jutsu. The shinobi war intensified, and fear was struck into all enemies of Konoha by the actions of Yellow Flash: to eliminate over 50 jounin or higher level shinobi in a time span of less than a minute was an ability not to be taken lightly. Within 2 years after that 'incident', the shinobi wars drew to an end, due to the efforts of Konoha's Yellow Flash, the Legendary Sannin (they made a name for themselves in the war as well) and the massive assaults of the combined forces of elite Hyuuga and Uchiha shinobi. Relative peace was achieved through treaties and alliances for the coming years. Sandaime Hokage chose to retire from his position and gave the honor to Arashi to become his successor. Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Three, thought of this as an insult to his abilities. When he was found doing experiments on humans, moreover his fellow shinobi, killing alot of them in the process, Orochimaru was to be executed, but he got away, becoming an S-rank missing-nin. Arashi was not pleased by this, since he was familiar with the sheer genius of Orochimaru's mind. He feared Orochimaru would take out his revenge on Konoha village. The Yondaime Hokage, Kazama Arashi was often seen in thoughts and wasn't always performing his Hokage duties in the 2 weeks that followed after Orochimaru's going missing-nin. He sometimes was nowhere to be found, popping up into random places with excuses that would make young Hatake Kakashi's excuses look like biblical truths. It didn't help the fact that Kakashi was formerly under the Yellow Flash as a genin. Then, an event occurred, that would strike the mighty Konoha hard.

0-0-0

Large explosions thundered through the skies, clouds began to cover Konoha in a dark atmosphere. Earthquakes came in rapid succession.

"It's Kyuubi! She's gone wild!" "It's destroying everything in it's path! We must stop it!" "It's coming this way? What the hell! We need to get the hell out of here!". Random screams sounded through the village like that and the alarms sounded, emphasizing the villagers to head for shelter.

Kyuubi rampaged through the valley, heading straight towards the village of Konoha. This was hard to miss: nine tails flinging in all directions, creating earth-shattering quakes and sky-high tsunamis were thrown in all directions where there was any possible Konoha shinobi. The attempts of the shinobi to slow down, hurt, or even approach the enraged guardian spirit were in vain, as they were mercilessly slaughtered. From the Hokage office, Arashi looked upon the approaching spirit form, hard to miss, since it rose above everything else with its 150 foot size. The tails were menacingly swiping across the lands and the red fox form clawed and bit through everything in its way. 'What could've possibly happened to enrage a kindhearted spirit this much?' thought the Yondaime, as he saw only 2 different possibilities to stop Kyuubi. Sighing, dreading the villagers' response to his actions, he moved out of the tower and summoned GamaBunta, the great Toad summon. When Arashi arrived, he looked into Kyuubi's eyes and saw nothing but hate and rage towards Konoha. No words would help and waiting any longer, he started forming a set of seals. Shinigami's outlines were visible to Kyuubi, instantly freezing it on the spot. Even the tails completely stopped. Arashi wasted no time and formed another, longer, set of seals. The newborn boy in the Hokage's arms lie silent, awaiting what comes...

Arashi completed the seals and Shinigami became visible to everyone with a link to the Shinigami. "Oh god. No. Arashi, you wouldn't... Not THAT jutsu..." Sarutobi looked down after saying that. He knew what would happen.

To all other spectators, it looked as if Kyuubi froze, and suddenly was pulled towards the Hokage and GamaBunta... When Kyuubi reached GamaBunta, everybody feared the worst for their Hokage, only to see the spirit dissolve into a stream of blood-red dust. The stream entered a child, held by the Hokage. The child screamed in pain, crying out loud in agony. A loose tail took a swipe towards the Yondaime before it dissolved, but GamaBunta shifted position, which gave him a huge cut over his face, through his left eye.

"GamaBunta... This is probably the only time I will order you, but... Please... Look after him a bit... Don't let him die... His name will be... Uzumaki Naruto...". Those were the last words the Yondaime said as he carefully laid the boy down on GamaBunta's back. The child was only lightly sobbing, and had a brightly lit seal on his belly: two identical seals containing a swirl. **"Fine kid. I'll make sure he'll stay alive until he becomes a shinobi." **A smile appeared on Arashi's face when he closed his eyes, to never open them again. This marked the start of the Uzumaki clan of Konoha.

TBC

So what y'all think? Good start? Lemme know!


	2. Chapter 2

-1Disclaimer: chap 1

**Blood bond**

Chapter 2

The population of Konoha mourned for the losses it suffered in the battle against the enraged spirit guardian Kyuubi. Amongst the losses was the Yondaime Hokage. He was selected by the Sandaime Hokage to take over only 1 month ago. Now, Sandaime Hokage was asked to take over again, as the remaining 2 legendary sannin refused or left Konoha to wander around. Rumors of the reason of Yondaime's demise began spreading, and the fact that a little newborn child was found next to Yondaime's body, with a seal on it, intensified the rumors. This child was supposedly be Kyuubi reborn. After all, nobody saw this child to be taken to the battlefield. Hate towards the child began to build. Only a select few knew of Yondaime's true intentions, amongst them was the Sandaime Hokage. The Sandaime Hokage issued a law to try and minimize the hate towards the child, by forbidding anyone to speak of the Kyuubi. This way, the young generation of Konoha wouldn't bear the hatred the parents so obviously had.

0-0-0

"Let's kill the kid tonight! To honor the Yondaime!" one of the villagers yelled. A chorus of 'Hell yeah' and 'Let's kill Kyuubi' was heard. The group of villagers, mostly drunk, headed towards the decaying apartment building where Uzumaki Naruto was housed.

Since his first, he was kicked out of the orphanage, under the cover of being too disruptive. Thus, the Sandaime had took it upon himself to take care of the boy by giving him an apartment and appointing a guardian. The guardian was an active ANBU. She wasn't home very often, but when she was, she would look after him with the care of a mother. When she was away, Sandaime came to check up on him at least once a day.

Naruto was walking before his first birthday, and running to outrun the bullies just after his first in the orphanage. When he came into the apartment building, he was instructed by his guardian and the Sandaime in the basics of writing, spelling and reading. Shiruna Kariu, the guardian, even tossed in some heavy pointers in stealth.

This became his most valuable asset, since it made him able to get away from drunken villagers on his second birthday. Kariu was on a mission, so unable to look out for him.

It turned out that this was also the last mission for her. She was killed while tracking an S-class Nuke-nin.

Now, Naruto was on his own, diligently practicing his stealth and making sure he knew as much as he could on Shinobi. Practicing with Kunai and Shuriken was very difficult, due to his current size.

Today was the day of his third birthday. Consequently, it was also the third time of mourning the assault of Kyuubi, which, again, made for a lot of drunken villagers, torn in mourning, wallowing and alcohol.

"Let's burn the place with him in it!" "Yeah, booze for a good cause!"

Naruto looked out of the window to see what the commotion was about. Just as he looked out his only window, he got hit with multiple bottles of Sake and saw only black with stars for a moment.

Next thing he saw was flames engulfing the apartment.

'What did I do to get this...' were Naruto's thoughts before he blacked out due to lack of air and the increasing heat.

0-0-0

"Huh? Where am I?" the three year old Naruto thought when he looked around and saw a hallway filled with pipes and a shallow layer of water. He felt a pull towards the end of the hallway, where there was a turn. Naruto rounded the corner...

The sight that greeted him was one of enormous gates and a red haze.

'What the... Where is this? Where am I?' Naruto thought.

"**You are in your own mind, little child."** a loud voice came from behind the gates.

"In my own mind... Wait a minute, then what are YOU doing here then?" Naruto yelled towards the gates.

Kyuubi walked into visibility. Naruto looked towards the gates and saw a figure approaching. A HUGE figure, one as large as the gates. A red fox with nine swishing tails behind her. 'Red fox with nine tails... You don't see that every day...' A feeling of dread came over Naruto... 'I only know of one fox with nine tails...'

"Umm, if this is my mind, how come I'm talking to Kyuubi?" Naruto asked towards the gates, not really towards Kyuubi, but more to himself, not really expecting an answer.

"**Your Yondaime Hokage faced me when I rampaged towards your village and used his life to seal me inside a newborn baby, namely you."** Kyuubi answered.

Naruto's head shot up towards Kyuubi's eyes and looked straight into them for signals of mirth or mockery, but found none but sadness and despise? Remorse even?

Naruto's quick thinking caught up with his head and explanations about the hateful glares from the villagers seemed logical. "Well, shit... I guess my rotten luck comes with a very powerful fox in a cage..." -sigh-

Quick thinking caught up with Naruto again and another feeling of dread came over him. "Erm... We've got a problem... See, I'm in deep shit on the outside..." Naruto trailed off. **"Yeah, I know. Your 'house' is on fire and since you're in here, you're pretty much knocked out. Now, I can give you strength beyond your wildest dreams, but I'll need to know what you intend to do with it. Will you take revenge on the villagers? Take them out like they are doing to you?"** Kyuubi asked Naruto.

Naruto looked horrified. "No way! Why would I want to kill someone who's..." Naruto thought of a nice simple explanation. "... too weak to see me as a person instead of... erm... Well... You." Naruto blushed a bit with the last insinuation. In his hotheadedness, he almost did the same thing as the villagers. "I want to become a Hokage worthy to succeed the Yondaime! I'll just make sure that I get a longer term than he did... I mean, seriously, only a month of being hokage's not really good, is it? Why do you ask, by the way? Can you get us out of this burn-to-death thing?"

Kyuubi chuckled at Naruto's blush and the enthusiastic explanation of being hokage. **"Well, if you were going to get revenge, I wouldn't've given you anything, since you'd be making the same mistake as I did. However, there are certain things I will order you to do. You will listen to those orders or give me a pretty damn good reason why not. The exception is in training. You'll listen and obey, no questions asked. The faster you become strong, the faster you'll be able to become Hokage. Now, what do you think of that?"** Kyuubi asked the little boy.

Naruto's excitement grew with every word. "Cool! I'm gonna be the youngest and most powerful hokage ever! You bet I'll accept that! Win-win situation! I get power, training, and company! YaHOO!" he yelled, while jumping around.

Kyuubi chuckled and said: **"Kittling, I'm going to give you a few little changes, which are going to hurt. When you wake up, go to the old man."**

Naruto just managed to speak out "Huh? Kittling?" before his world exploded in darkness and pain.

0-0-0

Outside, people were cheering into the roaring flames when they saw the flames intensify for a moment and a child's scream pierced the flames, followed by a high pitched unearthly scream that shattered the windows in the block.

Kyuubi used her chakra to protect Naruto from the flames and to teleport him out of the building, into another room.

The Hokage was returning from the usual mourning ceremony to check up on the villagers through the crystal observation ball. What he saw shocked him... There was a crowd outside the apartment building that housed Naruto and it was burning! "What the hell?" the Hokage exclaimed. As he was about to teleport out, he heard a child's cry from the room next to him.

Sandaime looked into the room, finding Naruto, wrapped in red chakra, sleeping restless. The red chakra began to form a mouth and produced words: **"Let the boy rest. He will be fine in the morning, so for now, he will need a place to sleep. He will find you in the afternoon to convey certain wishes."** with that, the mouth disappeared, leaving a Hokage speechless. 'Oh boy... Well this might prove interesting. I'll let him sleep at my place for now. We'll figure this out tomorrow. First, let me take care of these dumb-ass villagers.'

The Hokage picked up the restless Naruto and teleported towards his home. There, he laid Naruto on the sofa with a blanket covering him. Sandaime set out to some extensive physical punishment on 30-odd villagers.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

Blood Bond

Chapter 3

0-0-0

Naruto woke up totally stiffened and sore everywhere. 'What the hell?' Naruto wondered. 'Somehow, I got myself next to a green sofa. A GREEN sofa! Who in the world would want a green SOFA?'

Well, that's when his mind caught up again. 'Well, at least I'm not erm... 'extra crispy' I think they call it...'

A year worth of stealth practicing did wonders to your vocabulary, especially if you start with shadowing drunken villagers that just came out of a bar-brawl. Guessing the meaning of the words isn't very hard when you look at the reactions of the receiving party...

"Ah, I see you're awake. Quite an eventful night, wouldn't you agree?"

Naruto whipped towards the voice, only to see Sandaime Hokage standing in the doorway. "Yeah, I'm sore all over... Oh yeah, Kyuubi said I'd have to find you if I woke up... I guess I don't have to anymore." With those words, Naruto flopped down unceremoniously and started snoring again, since this time, his body caught up with the young boy.

The Hokage chuckled. 'Number 1 in surprising people... You'll take that name from HIM... Heh, I've never been surprised more than 2 times a day, and you managed 3 times in the past 12 hours already. I guess it'll be very noisy pretty soon...' Sandaime placed Naruto back on the sofa and covered him in blankets again.

0-0-0

Naruto regained his senses in front of the now familiar gates. "Wha..? I'm back here?" Naruto asked confused. **"Yes, you reacted quite too forcefully for your body to handle, so you keeled over again."** Kyuubi responded. **"You'll wake again eventually. Now, I want you to listen to what I have to say. No interruptions, got it?"** Kyuubi continued sternly. Naruto wasn't very happy. "But-" **"No. Just listen, I'll explain a few things right now, you ask any questions later."** Kyuubi interrupted.

"**I have 'adapted' certain body parts: your bones are strengthened beyond human capabilities -short of a Bloodline Limit- and your muscles are modified to be able to move those bones accordingly. Your contact with me seemed to have a peculiar side-effect: you have a Bloodline Limit in your eyes, though I'm not sure what it can do, but that doesn't matter. I've hyper-developed your eyes, so you would have access to your eye Limit on an early age. It won't work yet, since most eye Limits need precise chakra control.**

**It seems you have inherited a special perk from your family, since you have an innate ability of very precise chakra control. This is probably the only reason you're able to mold my chakra in the future, since demon chakra and human chakra aren't very similar.**

**So, we're going to be very busy with chakra control exercises the coming years. YES YEARS!"** Kyuubi yelled at the groan of Naruto. Anything that has 'busy' and 'years' in one sentence is bound to be bad. **"Further, you'll be learning everything you can in the field of medical knowledge."** As Kyuubi said this, she became very sad, Naruto noticed. 'Maybe something happened... Perhaps I'll hear about that someday.' Naruto thought.** "This will help in the future when your teammates need medical help. And of course, since you need to build your body, your taijutsu exercises will be gruesome."** This was met with another groan from Naruto and a sadistic smile from Kyuubi.

"**So, to get this working, you should ask the old man for a place to stay, a place to train and access to any and all medical information in the village. Now, any questions?"** Kyuubi asked. Naruto was processing all the things said and didn't really have any questions in mind at the moment, since everything was logical enough. "No, not really right now." Naruto replied while shaking his head. **"Good, then you go to sleep... Now."** With that, Naruto was booted from the gates into his dreamless slumber.

0-0-0

Naruto woke up early in the morning of the next day by rolling off the sofa. The thud and groan alerted the Hokage of the awakening of the child. "So, finally up again, Naruto?" the Hokage said with a smile.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm awake again. The fox said to let you know of some things you need to arrange for me: I need a place to live, a training area and access to any and all medical knowledge in Konoha. She said I needed the knowledge for later or something. Oh! You know, she also said I have an eye Bloodline Limit! I can't wait until I can use it! I bet it beats the Sharingan hands down!" Naruto said with a far-away glassy look in his eyes.

The Hokage sweat-dropped. 'Naruto... You don't use your hands, but your eyes...' he thought. "Ahem. Anyways. Why should I arrange these things for you and how do I know Kyuubi won't destroy the village, as she has proven she can -at least partially- take over your body?"

Naruto looked at the Hokage for a split second and said: "Well isn't that obvious? I need to work hard to become the youngest and most powerful Hokage, worthy of following the Yondaime, of course! And she didn't take over my body, she just teleported it or something, I mean, I'm not in my apartment anymore and I'm not burnt 'extra crispy', right?" Naruto said with a foxy grin on his face.

"She also gave me this weird conditions on getting some strength, you know... She wouldn't give me anything if I was going to take revenge on the villagers, and she really wanted me to learn medical stuff... Anyways, I promise I won't let her take over to destroy the village, and I, Uzumaki Naruto, don't go back on my word!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

The Hokage winced at the high pitch and loudness of the little boy. 'Good thing these rooms are soundproof -Hokage privilege- or I would've probably lost my house as well...' he thought. The exclamation did reassure him. 'Demons live by a strict code of honor; their word is everything to them... Though to get them to give you their word takes quite some convincing.'

"Alright, Naruto... Since your presence is pretty much not liked right now, as well as nobody would want to provide you with living quarters, I'll let you stay here. There are certain conditions, however:

-You are to eat at scheduled times with me, so I can see you're at least eating properly

-you will sleep here, not outside

-you will not leave my private training grounds or house without my permission since I don't want to find either you dead in a gutter or any number of villagers you had to strike down in self-defense

-I'll regularly check up on how far you're along, of course, so we can see when you can start your ninja career, in order for you to become Hokage"

Sandaime stated the last with a smile. Naruto couldn't be more giddy! 'Wow! I get to train on a Hokage training field! I get to sleep in a Hokage house! This is so great! Even getting trained by Kyuubi no less! Hokage-dom here I come!' Naruto was bouncing around dreamily until the Hokage spoke up again. "Well it seems you're okay with my conditions. I have to go to work now. I'll see you for dinner tonight, at 19.00, ok?" With that, the Hokage headed for office after pointing the way for the training area.

0-0-0

'Whoa... The Hokage sure gets a nice training area... This is huge!' Naruto thought after seeing the grounds. "Now I just need to get to Kyuubi... Oh, I know, I'll just go to sleep." With that, Naruto closed his eyes after lying down on the great grass field next to the big lake. Within minutes, Naruto was asleep and in front of the gates.

Naruto walked up the gates and became giddy with the prospect of training. **"Well, the first thing you have to do it learn to meditate. This will help you find your chakra core, and probably the small reservoir of my chakra that's accessible for you right now. You'll need chakra in order to be able to control it. Today you'll meditate to find both your core and my reservoir until you can access both with the littlest of concentration and effort. Meditating will also help our ability to communicate, so you don't have to be asleep for you to get here. Now, to meditate, you go sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Then, you start clearing all thoughts out of your mind. Eventually, you'll feel a warmth from somewhere near your stomach. This is your core. When you've found your core, open your eyes. Then repeat the process until you can feel your core without closing your eyes."**

With that, Naruto started to try meditation.

Of course, mister 'number 1 in surprising people' wouldn't have his title if he didn't stand out. Well, technically, he doesn't. His mind was such a jumble and scramble of mixed thoughts that the two chakra sources actually combined for a few moments to toss Naruto out of his 'meditation'.

Kyuubi was forcibly tossed towards the back end of the cage as well.

"Ouch… What the hell was that?" Naruto grumbled, being in front of the gate again.

"**Well, I believe that was your own chakra and mine combining to shut you up. Apparently, even your chakra can't stand your mind…" –sigh- "Well, it seems we're going to have to start from scratch. But we'll do that after dinner. You're almost late for your appointment with the old man."**

"Oh shit! Damn damn damn I'ma be late! Wake Wake WAKE UP!"

Kyuubi was wincing from the yelling and was very surprised when Naruto actually woke up. **"…How… Unusual… He actually yelled himself awake…"**

Kyuubi massaged her ears for a few moments grumbling about pipsqueak voices and brats.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Blood Bond

Chapter 04

In his 3rd year of life, Naruto was forced to push his body to the maximum of the limits, which meant weights and more weights. Normally, that would shunt a child's growth. But then again, normally, you don't have a demon fox recharging and strengthening you body.

Consequently, Naruto was, at his 4th birthday, walking around and doing basic taijutsu kata's with a total of 250 pounds. The only ones who knew this little fact though, were Naruto and Kyuubi. Sandaime just pointed towards a shed in the back yard which was packed with training equipment, including weights and weapons, and said "Don't carry more than 20 pounds, any more would shunt your growth this early in life, Naruto. And you don't want to be short, now do you?".

That evening, Kyuubi insisted on beginning with 30 pounds and add 5 pounds every week with the reassurance that his body wouldn't have shunted growth.

This made sure that the improvements of Naruto's body weren't too obvious since weight was added every week.

Every day, Naruto would run and practice taijutsu until exhaustion made him drop down sleeping, and when he ended up in front of the cage, Kyuubi guided him in calming his thoughts and reaching for his chakra reserves. They found the reserves about 2 weeks before his birthday, which made Naruto extremely happy.

Kyuubi, well, she wasn't too happy about it actually, since Naruto now kept badgering her about techniques, which, since she was a fox, she didn't need nor use. Of course, Naruto didn't believe one bit of it.

While they were working on finding the chakra, Kyuubi's chakra healed the body, so when Naruto woke up again after a few hours of meditation, he could do another grueling taijutsu training block.

Of course, Naruto's motivation for practicing relentlessly day in day out was quickly wavering, so Sandaime decided to plant his Kage Bunshin at the Tower to delegate stuff when he himself selfishly spent time with Naruto playing alternative tag: Naruto was supposed to hit Sandaime with a direct hit with taijutsu only with a time-limit of 15 minutes. After those 15 minutes, Sandaime would go over Naruto's stances and correct him when needed. Maito Gai was a Taijutsu Specialist, but Sandaime Hokage was 'The Professor': the ninja with a thousand jutsu and taijutsu to accompany it.

Needless to say, Sandaime really relished the little joys of Naruto's exuberance and enormous competitive spirit where Naruto would bite the dust, crawl up and bite the dust again just to get tougher, faster and more agile, so he could win tag.

0-0-0

Chakra control took most of the practice time for Naruto in his 4th year of life. In the morning, he would drop after exhausting himself physically, and since he found his chakra and Kyuubi's reserve, they spent the time they usually spent looking for chakra, in theory of traps, pranks, tactics and history. Kyuubi, being an eons old fox, knew lots of history and loved pranking. Of course, with pranking came a vast amount of knowledge in using the environment for traps.

When Naruto would wake up in the afternoon, he forced himself on chakra exercises. Sandaime was particularly helpful for this. He demonstrated several chakra control exercises starting with tree-walking and water-walking. Naruto wanted to do the water-walking of course, but after a day of trying and not getting anywhere but very cold and wet, he started with tree-walking anyways. Kyuubi stipulated that Naruto should do the exercises until he was drained of his chakra. In the meantime, a new chakra source came into existence: a small reserve, which contained a purplish mixture of Naruto's and Kyuubi's chakra. It was building, but not big enough to tap into, nor use for techniques.

Tree-walking took a day to walk up an entire tree, and Kyuubi forced Naruto to practice tree-walking until exhaustion for 2 weeks in the afternoons.

Next up was water-walking, which came a bit easier now. Still, it took a week to master it. The biggest problem was to separate Kyuubi's and Naruto's own chakra. They interfered with each other. During tree-walking it wasn't very noticeable, but with water-walking if created problems when correcting the chakra flow to compensate for the current. Water-walking was the standard of the day for 2 months. After that, Naruto began doing his taijutsu regime in the mornings and afternoons again, only this time completely on water. even Sandaime was challenged by the stamina of his young 'pursuer'.

Every breakfast and dinner, Naruto and Sandaime would eat together. Here, Naruto was forced to learn etiquette for dinner and official responses and titles used to address certain people after dinner.

Needless to say, Naruto was pretty drained after every day.

The weights now reached 500 pounds and became quite bulky, until in the shed, there was a weight scroll. It described a seal, which would make a weight 5 times as heavy, or in the case of the advanced version: 20 times as heavy.

Needless to say, weights were drastically reduced in size.

0-0-0

On his 5th birthday, Naruto gained his first own technique scrolls. An attack and the appropriate defense:

Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu

Doton: Dojin Heki

Now, people may wonder why he didn't get the basics like kawarimi and bunshin. Very simple; he'd get those in the academy.

The afternoon training block made place for extensive practice in mastering the jutsus. Of course this didn't take the entire year. No, it took a week per technique to master. The afternoon block soon became a combination of training with Shuriken and Kunai.

0-0-0

Sandaime was a busy man, but when seeing such a young child going at it with such burning determination made his spirit lift through the roof. It wasn't long after Naruto's 5th birthday he started to use the afternoon to demonstrate and correct Naruto's Kunai and Shuriken throwing in the mornings.

Also, halfway through the year, something special happened. The small reserve of chakra was accessible, but only to be used for 1 area: the eyes. The Chamigan was born.

(AN: the mouthfull would be 'Chakra Miru Megane' or Sight of Chakra Seeing. Details later J)

The eyes gained a golden ring with 1 black dot per iris.

With it, came the advanced part of the bloodline: Chakra Distribution.

Normally, when you flash through seals, you use the same amount of chakra per seal:

Take the Gokakyuu: 4 seals, 25 percent per seal.

Now, with a bit of tinkering, 10 percent less on the boar seal and 10 percent more on the ram seal raised the efficiency of the technique vastly, making the use of chakra even more potent. This of course led to another bout or remastering the techniques Naruto knew.

When Sandaime saw Naruto with his Chamigan activated for the first time, he was in shock. 'The Chamigan hasn't been seen in the Kazama Clan for over 100 years, let alone at such a young age. I don't even know the possibilities with it, nor the potentials...'

This made 'The Professor' eager to learn once again!

Sandaime was thusly impressed, that he gave Naruto 5 more techniques with vast destruction potential, which Naruto picked up quickly after seeing them with his Chamigan on.

Doton: Doryuudan

Raiton: Rairyuudan

Katon: Karyuudan

Suiton: Suiryuudan

Fuuton: Renkuudan

Of course, shielding was going to be necessary so a few shielding techniques were in order as well:

Suiton: Suijin Heki

Katon: Karyuumaki

Fuuton: Sabakumaki

Needless to say, the taijutsu block of Naruto suffered while he took the time to completely master those techniques with the tinkering. His eyes made him see the technique and instinctively let him know the right percentages. Well, that would happen in the 2nd level of the Chamirugan. The 1st level Naruto was currently using, only made him feel whether there was too much or too little chakra molded in the handseal, thus it took quite some tinkering to get it right. Every technique took a month to master. Though, when he had the combination right for the fire technique, the fire shield only took an extra week. The same was the case with the water and air techniques.

In the meantime, Naruto's reserves were grown into the size of mid-jounin level, with Kyuubi's reserve the same size. This made Naruto quite the powerhouse with those techniques. To give an example: you have Suiton: Suijin Heki, which is the basic, yet very efficient water defense. The advanced shield would be Suiton: Suijin Tatsumaki, where the water layered dome would be spinning at such velocities to make it almost impenetrable in itself. A normal Katon: Karyuudan would be deflectable with a Suiton: Suijin Heki with some difficulty, but doable. Normally, a Katon: Karyuudan was a red-hot flamed dragons head launched at the attacker. The Naruto tinkered version had a bright yellowish white core with yellowish orange outlining. Sandaime's Suiton: Suijin Tatsumaki was holding, but not very confidently when in full power pitted against each other. Combined with the fact that the seal sequence was drastically shortened with Naruto's tinkering (in a 8 seal sequence with 1 seal 3 times would become a 5 seal sequence with one seal being 37.5 percent of the total, effectively rendering any direct copying ability useless, as most, if not all, opponents and copycats don't have the tinkering abilities, making the technique fail with the same seal sequence Naruto uses/will use).

Needless to say, Naruto took to learning the Suiton: Suijin Tatsumaki as well, making Sandaime's Doton: Doryuudan bounce off the Suiton: Tatsumaki of Naruto like a senbon needle does off of a well-placed blocking kunai (the kunai being at least 12 times as heavy as a senbon needle). The first trial runs in the tinkering process were very amusing to Sandaime, who couldn't control his laughter, and consequently his technique, after seeing Naruto launch straight up in a vortex of water, landing in the river after a 5 second flight, leading to even more laughter when a soaked Naruto began using very descriptive strings of words for the elements that crossed him, in this case, water.

0-0-0

During his 6th birthday, Naruto was allowed to go out to the festivities of the defeat of Kyuubi, though he had to wear a face-mask and a bandana, further dressed in black pants with a dark orange T-shirt and a non-reflective white jacket which had the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back (The red swirl). This outfit was a present of Sandaime. Sandaime gave Naruto 5 of these outfits. They were all the same. Sandaime gave as reason: "This outfit makes you recognizable, yet mysterious. Since you hide your face, your clothes should be recognizable. And NO, you cannot wear that orange jumpsuit. That's TOO recognizable."

During these festivities, there was a peace envoy from Kumogakure. Of course, the fact that at this night, one of the Kumo nins infiltrated the Hyuuga household and captured the Heiress, didn't improve things. A manhunt was quickly underway by the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga caught up with the nin and forced him to drop the little girl.

After he put down the girl, Hyuuga Hiashi, Father of the child, attacked the kumo nin, only to make a sudden stop as the nin switched places with the little girl. This enraged Hiashi, making him fight rash and sloppy, giving the kumo nin a chance to escape. Unfortunately, the nin didn't expect a minor detail: Naruto was returning towards the Hokage compound when the chasing party came past over the rooftops. Curiosity taking over, Naruto followed the party, only to witness the act of placing a child in front of a lethal strike, just for the fun of it, as the kumo nin taunted.

'Kyuubi, I'm frying him!'

Kyuubi, who saw the event as well, was as enraged as Naruto was about it: children were the most precious things for demons. To toss a child's life away just for the fun of it was unheard of.

"**Go ahead kittling, but keep a cool head, don't make the same mistake as that white-eyes."**

After that, Naruto took position and formed the seals, pouring as much chakra in his attack as he could.

0-0

Hiashi Finally got a bit levelheaded again and with a well-placed 'Kaiten' the Kumo nin was launched into an open field. Just as Hiashi was about to go for the killing blow, a high voice carried a scream:

_Katon: Karyuudan!_

Based on the voice, Hiashi was distracted and annoyed that a little child would attempt such a technique especially in 'his' fight. His opinion changed drastically as well as his composure when a 7 foot wide, 40 foot long, yellowish white fire dragon was creating a gutter towards the kumo nin with amazing speeds!. The kumo nin was just getting up, heard the high voice and formed the seals for his technique: _Suiton: Suijin Heki_.

Unfortunately, as he was holding his water technique, the fire dragon easily overpowered the shield. Since the nin was holding the shield barrier, he couldn't get away or perform another technique to get away from the massive dragon. The last thought of the nin before being disintegrated was 'no way that a child made that…'

Hiashi saw the kumo nin burned away completely and was standing quite slack-jawed looking into the direction where the dragon came from. He saw a small form with 2 glowing golden rings. The form retreated, leaving a recomposing Hyuuga Hiashi.

0-0-0

The Kumo delegation was asking about their missing member, but since there was absolutely no proof of the nin or his body for that matter, they didn't have a ground for accusations. The Konoha nin involved in the incident wisely held their comments of course.

In the end, the delegation left without too much hassle and a very shaky treaty at best.

The report of Hyuuga Hiashi reached Sandaime's ears and Sandaime confronted Naruto with it. Naruto gave his side of the story. This made Sandaime reconsider some things. 'The boy is becoming more and more powerful in his own right. He'll need more guidance then I currently can offer and he needs interaction with some people his own age. However, I'm not confident enough to let him go to the academy yet… Perhaps I should re-instate ANBU team 4… the 'Demolition Dancers'… he already has the demolition part down… now I only need to find some suitable teammates…'

0-0-0

The Sandaime's dilemma of Naruto's future teammates was resolved when the ANBU captain of Team 15, Uchiha Itachi, came with a very disturbing report on inner clan dealings. Apparently, they needed Itachi to overthrow the Hokage to prove they were the strongest clan in Konoha. As Itachi was their strongest, he would have to do it. They even threatened to exile his family if he didn't comply. This alone almost made him go off and assassinate those in his clan responsible for it. But in the end he decided not to and reported it to the Hokage in secret.

Sandaime was shocked, but relieved as well. The Uchiha clan did make a good force and to loose it would be a loss to the village. The simplest way to deal with this problem was to take away their strongest.

"Uchiha Itachi, I have a new mission for you. It will be a permanent transfer and an indefinite length of time. You are to disappear from the clan. You will do so by relocating to the Hokage quarters, where you'll await further instructions for your new team. You see, you are going to be the 2nd member of the newly re-instated ANBU team 4. Any questions?"

Itachi, normally not easily surprised, was shocked. 'ANBU team 4, the most prestigious and most destructive team in Konoha history, the former team of Yondaime Hokage... Damn…'

Coming out of his stupor, he answered. "What about my duties as ANBU team 15's captain?"

"You're no longer there. For the record, you're dead. You are to train up your future teammate in the basics. Any further questions?" A shake of the head was the answer. "Good. Dismissed. You'll meet your teammate tomorrow morning."

With that, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha clan prodigy, 'died' in an 'outside boundaries mission on private orders by the Hokage'.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Blood Bond

Chapter 05

Itachi and Naruto were on the Hokage training field to assess their skills. What became apparent was that Naruto without his enormous weight package was fast. Very fast. Sharingan-required-to-follow-fast. What also became apparent was the resulting balance problem that came with prolonged weight wearing. That, and no 6 years old should walk around with 700 pounds of weight strapped to themselves.

Kyuubi told Naruto to top off at 700 pounds for now, since any more Kyuubi would not be able to compensate even with the increased healing. Itachi also instructed Naruto on the basic Kawarimi, Henge and Bunshin. Advanced kunai and shuriken throwing came as well, with the ricocheting of kunai against airborne kunai. This was Itachi's specialty with the hand weapons.

To remedy the balance problem, Sandaime came with several balance kata's, which were to be executed excruciatingly slow, both with and without weights, and with and without chakra use. Also, Itachi made the 'mistake' of performing the Katon: Karyuu Endan in front of Naruto after repeated whining from said person.

The difference between the Katon: Karyuudan and the Katon: Karyuu Endan is very simple: the Endan follows you around until it hits either you or an obstacle that can block it, or of course, it looses course when it loses sense of its target through evasion or Kawarimi. Itachi even went as far as to Mangekyou Naruto's Karyuu Endan, which actually worked, making Naruto form a very fast Suijin: Tatsumaki.

0-0-0

The Uchiha Clan was not pleased with the message of Itachi being killed on a Hokage mission. In fact, it strengthened their beliefs on getting rid of the Hokage, so the Clan as a whole began working on Sasuke, the brother of Itachi, to mold him in the new to-be-Hokage assassin.

Of course, news leaked out through internal spy channels, informing the 2 people which would react strongest on it: the Sandaime Hokage, and their would-be-dead prodigy, Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi had a hard time keeping his temper in check over the latest Clan decision. Combined with several spy reports where Orochimaru was reported to have gained an interest in stealing the Sharingan eyes for experimental use, it made for a very distracted Itachi.

Yes, it seemed the normally unusually impassive Uchiha Itachi was infected with 'prolonged Naruto exposure'...

0-0-0

The Uchiha Clan as a whole became more and more oppressive against the general populace in their irk over the fact they weren't the most recognized and important Clan in Konoha. This festered on and on for a half year, up to the point where an accidental spill of information made its way to the Hokage tower: an assassination plan on the Hokage, worked out in detail, obviously the work of multiple Uchiha members, since some parts of information were only accessible to the Uchiha Police Force.

This made the final decision.

0-0-0

"You called, ero-ji-sama?" came the stoic voice of Itachi. Sandaime sweat dropped. 'Naruto's exuberance made him more expressionate and sort of rebellious, so I'll probably won't lose that nickname after him catching me with Icha Icha Paradise... But it's such a good book...' thought the Hokage. 'Ahh I'm getting off track. Back to business.'

Itachi saw the dreamy look give way for a very serious expression on Sandaime's face. "Itachi, I've found very disturbing facts about the inner workings of your clan, and I can no longer overlook their transgressions. They have now twice committed open treason with their plots against me, my position, and their general attitude towards the population of Konoha. How many people do you think you would require to disable all those responsible for these transgressions?" Sandaime requested Itachi.

Itachi pondered for a minute or two. "I believe I only need myself to do so. With my Mangekyou Sharingan I can discern certain thoughts like mind reading, which should enable me to see who was in on it and who wasn't. It will be very taxing, but possible. It will take a nightly operation and I will need medical assistance afterwards for my Soldier Pill Overdose which will be the only way to give me enough chakra to pull it off with scanning the entire clan. I request Naruto to be my back-up, to retrieve me and bring me over to the hospital, since he is stealthy enough, and fast enough." Itachi answered.

Sandaime sighed very deeply after this explanation. 'It seems the first 'official' mission of ANBU 4 is the cleansing of the entire Uchiha Clan...'

Though Sandaime was also relieved. 'It's a good thing Naruto's only a runner on this mission, so he won't have to kill unnecessarily... Yet.'

0-0-0

Itachi had briefed Naruto on the events. Naruto was glad he didn't have to assassinate anybody. He could kill, no doubt. After all, he was a ninja, but that didn't mean he liked it. It left an empty feeling behind, as he experienced when he successfully barbequed the kidnapper. So, the mission was initiated.

Sandaime explained the special points about ANBU 4. Their codenames would be colors instead of animals. . They'd still have animal masks, but the masks would not be white, but in the color of their chosen name.

Itachi chose to be Akai, Red, with his new bunny mask (which made Naruto get a laughing fit)

Naruto chose for Aoi, Blue, with a fox mask (you'd think a red one would be better... Well, apparently not )

They'd have standard ANBU gear for now, all black, but that would change when they'd be a full team and doing missions outside the village. It was under the new moon that 2 black clothed figures went with high speed through the shadows towards the Uchiha Complex.

Aoi stayed outside on watch, hidden in the shadows, awaiting Akai's signal flare. He had to wait for 3,5 hours. The suspense was killing Aoi, next to the fact of constantly keeping his senses sky high. Eventually, the flair came, and Naruto picked up the severely exhausted Akai and made his way to the hospital onto the roof into the waiting arms of the pre-warned medical staff. Chakra exhaustion and Soldier Pill Overdose were 2 ailments that could be handled without too much hassle when treated fast enough. They didn't even need to remove any clothing, which they weren't allowed to do on ANBU personnel when not in life-threatening positions.

The next day found almost the entire Uchiha Clan killed in their sleep. Only young Uchiha Sasuke was still alive. Rumors went around about secret assassination plots from hostile villages to death through suffocation because someone left the gas open.

ANBU 4 1st mission, success.

0-0-0

Itachi was thoroughly disgusted with his Clan. They might not have supported the known Hokage assassination plan, but the other plans that came to light, which were among the same lines, made for so many victims. There were 6 different plans in preparation, all by different parts of the Clan. Itachi was bedridden for 2 months.

Naruto trained with Sandaime on balance and bodily control. This was physically as well as mentally challenging, since standing on a thin stick in the middle of a field full of rock spikes (courtesy of Sandaime) and moving antagonizing slow in difficult balance Kata's... Well preventing to fall in the spikes was a big motivator, let's keep it at that.

This continued through Naruto's 7th birthday. Constant training of balance, different jutsu Itachi picked up in the field and lots and lots of sparring. Halfway the year, Sandaime suggested all-out sparring, which made Naruto and Itachi experience the true strength of 'the professor'. All this sparring was slowly getting Sandaime in fighting shape again after so many years of sitting still.

Even with the Sharingan, Itachi couldn't form seals fast enough to follow the Hokage's speed, next to that, the Hokage's enormous chakra reserves outlasted both of his pursuers.

The potential of the Chamigan became even more apparent after Naruto tweaked the Kanashibari no Jutsu. Normally, the Hokage wouldn't be fazed by the low-level fear-instilling genjutsu, but the tweaking at half power made him freeze up for a little moment, and a full-powered one could hold him for a full 2 seconds! Without using killing intent (which would magnify the effect about 5 fold)! A lower-level ninja or civilian could spontaneously get a heart-attack from it.

0-0-0

Naruto's 8th birthday was quite the experience, since it was the day of the activation of the Blood Bond. When the clock hit midnight, Naruto's room was filled with chakra, all his reserves were forcibly pulled empty. The room was locked and while the Hokage could hear the screams and feel the ominous presence of the Shimigami (because Sandaime has a contract with the Death God) he couldn't do anything but pray. This was one of the things that went unexplained in the Kazama Clan.

"**Well, well... It seems the youngest is ready for his bonding... You have quite the chakra reserves, young one, multiple even... This would make a good meal indeed. Ok, to business."**

"**By Blood Bond, an agreement is made, to have the contract with the Shinigami, one shall sacrifice half of his chakra reserves, which will gain you the right to use several set Shinigami jutsu without the usual penalties. So agreed, so I claim my meal."**

In the torrent of chakra, Naruto's own reserve was thrashed, leaving him at low-chuunin level capacity, but his Chamigan reserves and Kyuubi's reserves stayed unaffected. A thread of chakra from the Shinigami connected to Naruto's forehead, who was knocked out immediately because of it.

"**Practice the techniques you have gained in your mind well, young one... They will be a valuable asset to you..."**

With those words, which only Naruto's sub-conscience picked up and stored away with the other memories that were received, the chakra disappeared from Naruto's room, together with the presence of the ominous Death God.

Naruto was immediately transferred to the Hospital for closer evaluation, after hurriedly putting on his mask and bandana, so his identity wasn't revealed and he would be treated reasonably (Sandaime knows about the treatment by the villagers, and besides that, Naruto was supposed to be dead by explosion, just not officially, which needed to be kept that way.

The results were quite disturbing.

"It seems operative Aoi has lost most of his Chakra capacities. He dropped from mid-jounin levels to high-genin, perhaps low-chuunin. I have no idea how this could have happened, but having this much of a backdrop in capacities, he probably won't be able to restore more than the level he was at before this occurred, unless he himself knows to reverse whatever he did, or when a miracle happens."

This was the explanation Sandaime got from the attending doctor. 'I hope you can explain this, Naruto...'

Naruto was blissfully unaware of this little fact, but Kyuubi, who was shaking in fear at the arrival of Shinigami, was fully aware of the possible consequences of regaining Chakra capacities and the fact Shinigami ripped them away, for a contract and certain Shinigami jutsu.

'**The loss of such a capacity will hurt to regain and will be slow, but not impossible. However, chakra control should be a whole lot easier and less taxing to keep at a very high level, which are needed for the medical techniques I want him to learn.'**

0-0-0

Naruto was in a space in his mind, created by Shinigami, to practice the gained techniques to an acceptable level.

'How did I end up HERE?' was Naruto's first reaction on the white endless training void.

"**You are in your mind, young one, to practice the techniques you are allowed to use by Blood Bond."** said Shinigami when he appeared in front of Naruto. Naruto, not expecting the booming voice, nor the ghostly appearance, jumped back in a defensive stance.

"Who're you?" Naruto defiantly said.

"**I am the Shinigami. I created this little place in your mind, so you can practice my techniques. I sugge-"**

"SHINIGAMI? YOU'RE the DEATH GOD? What you doing in MY MIND! You've been 'helpful' enough with sealing Kyuubi in me, don't you think? You gonna bring even MORE misery?" was Naruto's interruption, before his mind once again caught up with his mouth. "eh... Blood Bond? What's that? OoOOOOooh! New techniques! Cool! Gimme!" Naruto dropped all defense and started bouncing around like the young kid behind the shinobi-in-training he is.

Shinigami, slightly taken aback by the interruption and slightly amused by the rapid mood swings, proceeded in his lecture. "**As I was saying,"** Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head here "**I suggest you practice them well in here, for you can practice them in here without hindrance. There are certain rules to using these techniques. You, and only those other few that have a Blood Bond with me, are allowed to use these techniques without the penalty of death, so make sure your teammate doesn't 'accidentally' uses them. He would die from using them. **

**Now, you know the seals and the sequences of the techniques. The Shinigami Bunshin is an excellent way of deceiving your opponents, for it created a real body, which is dying, or dead, whichever you prefer. It cannot be dispelled by anyone but you and not be distinguished by anyone not under Blood Bond.**

**The Shiki Fuuin you can use, however I will decide whether it was justified or not. Use this Sealing jutsu ONLY when you see no other way."**

0-0-0

The thrill of mastering new jutsu overcame Naruto's disrespectful behavior and he began practicing to perfection. Outside the training void, both Kyuubi and Sandaime were getting restless, since 2 days had past now.

In the afternoon, Naruto woke up, worn out mentally on practicing the jutsu to perfection. Oblivious he was out cold for 60 hours, he hopped out of bed and looked around for his clothes. His reflection in the mirror made him have a large sweat drop.

'You'd think ANBU have cooler pajama's... At least I hope they know it was my pajama's...'

Just then, Sandaime came checking in on him. "Naruto! You're awake! What happened?" was the relieved line of questioning by the Hokage.

"Well, I got some cool jutsu from Shinigami, because I seem to have a Blood Bond with him...Though I'd like them kept secret, since only those with a Blood Bond can use them without killing themselves... But... How long was I out?"

The Hokage, still in a daze about the answer of Shinigami giving Naruto jutsu to use, didn't answer. So, the answer came from the 'third person' in the room, Kyuubi.

"**You were out for 2 and a half day, and Shinigami took away most of your chakra reserves."**

It took 3 seconds to sink in.

"WHAAAAT? I LOST MOST OF MY CHAKRA RESERVES?" Now, a string of the most vulgar picked up words came out of the young mouth, which brought the Hokage out of his daze and look upon Naruto with a little sorrowful smile.

"**Calm down, Kittling, we can regain it, but it will be painful for you. Besides, he didn't touch my reserves, nor your Chamigan reserves. This is actually quite favorable, since now you can actually get enough chakra control to start learning medical techniques. I know, I know, you prefer big flashy techniques, but those won't do you much good if your people are lying on the ground dying from injuries. Besides, I think you can combine it with studying seals; now THOSE can pack a big punch..."**

Sufficiently calmed and motivated, Naruto started to get interested in the new study load.

"A-hem. Naruto. Care to repeat what I suspect Kyuubi just told you?"

These words by the Hokage snapped Naruto out of it. "Oh, nothing much. Sandaime-jiji. Kyuubi can help me regain the stripped chakra reserves, but it will take long, and now I can boost my control, so I can start on medical techniques and seals. Kyuubi says seals can make a big bang! I can't wait!" Naruto started to get excited again, where Sandaime gained another sweat drop on the back of his head.

From that day, for 4 years, Naruto was tutored in the basics of seals and Sandaime made weekly visits to the massive medical libraries to sedate Kyuubi's working ethics and Naruto's new-found discipline.

Konoha gained a new wave of pranks left and right, yet the culprit was never found.

0-0-0

The new schedule for the young to-be-Hokage was as following:

Taijutsu tag

Balancing

Medical knowledge

Jutsu training

Sealing tutoring

Chakra control

Practical pranking

And somewhere in between was the daily dinner with Sandaime. Itachi started working with Naruto on the Jutsu training with his vast repertoire of jutsu, and he also profited from the balancing exercises in the morning. Itachi was away the rest of the day, keeping up with rumors about movements of other countries and crowd control inside Konoha, so he had a steady income.

0-0-0

Naruto, now approaching his 12th birthday, was finally up to par with his chakra control to keep up medical techniques, and he regained his lost reserves. The reserves were forcefully put in place by Kyuubi in small parts every Saturday, and the rest of the week, the body was busy converting the 'new' reserve to the natural blue of Naruto. The injection was painful, but manageable, and the doses were small enough, so that control could be kept up and even improved. Water-walking, underwater-walking, body-cover, chakra-string-forming and constant practice of medical techniques does that to you.

The improved control also unlocked the 2nd stage of the Chamigan, giving Naruto a definite edge on learning, mastering and tweaking techniques. Itachi became more and more bored over time and joined in on pranking, and found his inner child once again.

Sandaime Hokage also made the mistake of treating the two 'children' on Ramen. Itachi found it 'quite edible' and ate 4 bowls. Naruto however, found his 'new hobby', eating Ramen, starting with a staggering 15 bowls (he couldn't eat dinner afterwards) making the Hokage's wallet a lot lighter.

It was also the time for Naruto to join the academy and to once again go into the public with his original looks: orange outfit, no mask, no bandana, carrying the full scorn of the villagers once again. Naruto was no happy camper.

"Well, you'll need to be genin before you can become chuunin, jounin and Hokage in the end, so no genin, no Hokage." were the words of Sandaime. "You'd better compensate for that, old man! I expect kick-ass missions assigned to me! After all, only training gets to ya after a time... I need practical experience." was Naruto's reply.

"Naruto. Please keep in mind that nobody knows you have had specialized training. You'll need to limit yourself in the presence of others. Think of it as a new mission."

"Yeah, I know I have to limit myself. If the first 3 years was any indication, they would only fear me more if I actually know my stuff. I suppose I could act like I don't know anything, and be a bit loud..." Naruto grumbled the last bit.

'Even more loud then you already are normally? Then I'll need earplugs more effective than those I use for Maito Gai's 'Youthful Exuberance'. Oh well, I'll see how things work out.' were the Hokage's thoughts on the matter.

"Do as you see fit, Naruto. Dismissed."

With that, Naruto went out to prepare him for the worst long-term mission (according to himself) he could possibly get.

"Do you think it'll do him good, Itachi?" The Hokage asked the silhouette in the back of his office.

"Don't ponder too much about it, ero-ji-sama. Naruto will make himself fit in. He might be trained in stealth and have some heavy artillery in his fingertips, but he still has his innocence. If not, we will probably hear his voice from here."

The reply was met with the slight cringing of the Hokage. "Yes, he does have a quite 'healthy' lung capacity."

TBC

_Well well, let's see how things end up, shall we? 4 years practice in sealing and medical training combined with the Chamigan and Naruto's own creativity makes for interesting pet projects._

_Await nxt rls!_


End file.
